I suppose it had to happen. 15 years (or more!) of buying online and finally I’ve been scammed. I wouldn’t mind, but I thought I had researched the field before buying and this company had been recommended online. Can’t find those recommendations now, but I can find plenty of warnings that I didn’t see before. Wish I’d found them earlier. So, the website is eurolens.ie. I’ve bought enough .ie domains in my time to know that they are not easy to come by. Easier now than a few years ago, but applicants still have to jump through a couple of hoops to prove they deserve the domain. So generally I regard a .ie domain as having been verified to some degree, and I also regard it as being for Irish websites. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that. When I ordered some contact lenses from this .ie website I was expecting a quick delivery and also that the price I paid at checkout would be the final price. Wrong! Despite the .ie domain, this company is based in Louisiana USA and that is where they ship from … when they get around to it. Delivery can take 7 weeks. But the real kicker is that because they ship from the US, you are liable for Customs duty on delivery. So an order that cost about Eur100 actually cost me an additional and completely unexpected Eur28. Thing is, having now seen all the online complaints about lens.com, advice not to use eurolens.ie and warnings not to buy from eurolens, it is inconceivable that the company is not aware of these issues. And yet they continue not to mention anything of this to people buying from their Irish .ie website. This omission is, in my opinion, tantamount to deception. What’s most disappointing in all this, though, is the attitude of the Irish domain registry IEDR which appears to defend its issuance of a .ie domain to this USA-based company on the basis that it sells into Ireland. Actually it doesn’t really sell into Ireland, if it did it would be upfront about the customs charges or would account for these within its pricing structure and delivery service. Poor show from eurolens.ie/lens.com, but an equally poor show from IEDR. Grrr.